Magnificent Chickens and Such

Seriously. This Slate article about chickens and their portraits is wonderful. Now I know there is another photo book of chickens I have to buy, The Fairest Fowl, Portraits of Championship Chickens, by Tamara Staples. I want her job. I would love going to state fairs to see and photograph the livestock. Especially the chickens.

I already proudly display my coffee table book Extraordinary Chickens, which my husband says combined with my moth photo books is maybe a little oversharing at first glance.




But we love what we love, right? For me it's a toss up between fancy chickens and giant moths, mostly because they so beautifully illustrate the incredible variation among species, and maybe because I grew up around enough of them to make me notice.

It's a good thing there's no coffee table book of Tardigrades, also called water bears, these amazing creatures that live in moss. They might frighten some people off, but aren't they fascinating? I encountered this guy on NASA'S photo of the day website, which seems odd until you read we're shooting them into space because the can live anywhere. Literally. This electron microscope photo is mind blowing. I went and learned all about these guys last night, and I'm just beside myself how much I don't know about this planet and it's creatures, despite a lifetime trying to learn all I can. Maybe they didn't catch my eye until the technology to photograph them made them come alive. He/she's no chicken or furry moth, but I think it's cute in it's own way.



So if your curiosity is piqued, you can go to youtube and google them and be amazed some more, just like me. Wonders never cease.

Happy Friday.